Patients that have respiratory difficulties often must be placed on a mechanical ventilator. These difficulties may be pathological in nature or may be due to the fact that the patient is too weak or sedated to independently perform respiration functions. A breath of medical gas is provided by the mechanical ventilator to the patient via a patient connection under a pressure that is sufficient to overcome the resistance of the patient's airway to fill the lungs. When the pressure of the medical gas is reduced, the natural compliance of the patient's lungs and chest wall forces the delivered breath out of the patient in an expiratory phase.
The patient connection facilitates the delivery of the medical gases from the ventilator where the gases are pressurized to the patient in a manner that directs the gases into the patient's lungs. Patient connections may come in a variety of forms, each with its own advantages and limitations. Ventilation masks are the most simple to attach to the patient; however, these masks tend to form an incomplete pneumatic seal with the patient's airway. A nasal cannula is advantageous when it is desirable that the patient's mouth remain obstruction-free. When a patient is not spontaneously breathing, an endotracheal tube (ETT) is commonly used as the patient connection.
Endotracheal tubes are typically used as a patient connection for a mechanical ventilator with patients that are either unconscious and/or heavily sedated. The endotracheal tube is typically made of plastic and inserted through the patient's mouth and into the trachea such that medical gases from the ventilator are delivered to the patient at a point proximal to the lungs. This method, while invasive, provides a pneumatically sealed connection with the patient that provides improved efficiency in the delivery of medical gases. Often, because of the invasive nature of the intubation process, endotracheal tubes are often used with patients that have longer-term respiratory support needs.
While the use of an endotracheal tube allows for the very careful management of patient respiration, there are limitations associated with the use of endotracheal tubes that are counterproductive to the careful management of patient respiration. Specifically, the buildup of mucus within the endotracheal tube affects the fluid mechanics of the medical gas being delivered to the patient through the endotracheal tube. Since patients receiving an endotracheal tube are on the endotracheal tube for a longer term, mucus from the lungs can build up within the endotracheal tube. Mucus buildup restricts the flow of medical gas through the endotracheal tube such that the patient does not receive the projected flow of medical gas from static mechanical ventilator settings. Currently, there is no method or system for providing an indication of whether there is mucus buildup in the endotracheal tube. Total change in patient airway resistance, as measured at the mouth of the patient, can be monitored but there is no indication whether this increase in airway resistance is due to an obstruction in the endotracheal tube or in the patient's lungs. An indication of where the airway is obstructed is desirable to clinicians because clinicians must direct the clinical remedies for clearing an obstruction to the specific location where the obstruction is located, either the endotracheal tube or the patient's lungs.
As the medical gas flows through the endotracheal tube, fluid mechanics states that the resistance of the endotracheal tube will change as the flow varies between laminar and turbulent flow. However, the type of flow is difficult to directly monitor. Therefore, it is desirable to use measured values to calculate the endotracheal tube resistance.
Furthermore, each element in the breathing circuit of the mechanical ventilator system has resistive properties. Since the resistance of the endotracheal tube is artificial, it is desirable to limit or eliminate the effect of the tube's resistance on the delivery of breaths to a patient. This can be accomplished using the airway resistance compensation (ARC) feature that is typically incorporated on modern ventilators. ARC compensates the pressure waveform so that the patient receives the desired pressure waveform at the patient end of the endotracheal tube. However, the current models for the resistive properties of the endotracheal tube are basic models, typically a fixed transfer function that assumes that the endotracheal tube is of a fixed length and a fixed diameter. Typically, the clinician enters the diameter of the tube and the length is assumed. Although the current model utilizes the length and diameter of the endotracheal tube, many clinicians modify the length of the endotracheal tube during use. Further, the build-up of mucus within the endotracheal tube reduces the effective diameter of the tube. This limits the accuracy of the airway resistance compensation for the resistance since for laminar flow the resistance is related to the fourth power of the diameter of the endotracheal tube, thus filtering the signals the patient actually receives. Specifically, the current models of endotracheal tube resistance do not account for the common practice of a clinician cutting the tube to a shorter length to secure a proper fit within the trachea of the patient or for changes in the endotracheal tube resistance resulting from the buildup of mucus within the endotracheal tube.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method of accurately measuring the resistive properties of an endotracheal tube being used to deliver medical gas to the lungs of a patient. It is further desirable that mucus buildup within the endotracheal tube may be detected, such that the mechanical ventilator may compensate for the buildup and/or perform a clearing procedure such that the mucus is removed. Still further, it is desirable to use the measurement of the resistive properties of the endotracheal tube to accurately compensate the pressure and flow of the medical gas delivered by the mechanical ventilator such that the patient receives the desired amount of medical gas during mechanical ventilation.